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The Year in Google Ads, SEO in 2018, & More Top Stories From December

If you’ve spent any time online in the past several weeks, you’re almost undoubtedly fatigued by the inevitable slew of year-end retrospectives and round-ups. However, at the risk of sounding like one of those insufferable hipster types, we were doing it before it was cool, and we couldn’t bid a fond farewell to 2017 without looking back at the top stories from the WordStream blog in December.

Even though many of you were preoccupied with finishing up your holiday shopping or taking a well-earned break, the world of digital marketing waits for no one. December was a very busy month here at the WordStream blog, and in case you were as busy as we were, here are the top 10 posts of the month.

When it comes to custom audience targeting, Facebook is an absolute beast. Seriously, it’s incredible (and a little creepy) just how granularly you can target custom audience segments with your Facebook ads.

However, in the spirit of new year’s resolutions, there’s always room for improvement, and in our most popular post of December, Larry Kim outlines three actionable strategies to make your custom audiences in Facebook even more effective – three times more effective, to be precise!

Keeping up with the near-constant stream of updates, additions, and tweaks that Google makes to its Google Ads (AdWords) platform every year can be a full-time job in itself. It’s one of the most frequent complaints we hear from digital marketers and small businesses, which is why Allen compiled this round-up of the 27 biggest Google Ads stories of the year in this post. How many of these updates snuck past you while you were busy with other things?

With so much emphasis being placed on the importance of video content these days, more and more people are getting started with editing their own videos.

If you’re planning to master the fundamentals of video editing as a new year’s resolution, you should check out this post by Gordon which breaks down the pros and cons of 10 video editing software suites from a newbie’s perspective.

Every new year brings with it a tsunami of content focused on what we should expect in the world of SEO. However, with semantic and contextual search poised to become even more prevalent in 2018, the future of SEO has never been more uncertain. In our fourth-most popular post of December, guest blogger Tom Whiley of Hallam explores seven hard truths about what SEOs should anticipate next year.

Not content to endlessly tinker with Google Ads this year, Google also made several sweeping changes to its Ad Grants program. More than 35,000 nonprofits worldwide rely on this program to help achieve their marketing and advertising goals, which is why if you work for or run a nonprofit, you need to read this post by Allen.

Some of these changes are truly immense, so be sure to get the lowdown on what you need to know to avoid being caught out.

Building beautiful, high-converting landing pages is easier than ever, but even so, some marketers and small-business owners simply don’t have the time or expertise to create their own. That’s why Margot put together this excellent list of nine quality sources for landing page templates. From drag-and-drop page editors to fully Bootstrap-compatible templates, there’s something for everyone. Now there’s truly no excuse for not overhauling those grotesque landing pages you’ve been meaning to update!

Remember earlier when we talked about how often Google tinkers with AdWords? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see a full list of the most important algorithm updates Google has made during the past 14 years? Well, now you can!

In this post, Gordon breaks down every single major Google algorithm update made since 2003. How many of these do you remember?

Agencies face unique challenges, not least of which is managing multiple accounts – sometimes as many as several hundred – while still trying to find and secure new business. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools that digital marketing agencies can use to stay ahead of the curve, and in this post, Ben Wood of Hallam evaluates five such tools.

Our penultimate post of this month’s round-up is another retrospective, but I promise it’s well worth checking out. Margot explores seven of the most significant updates to Facebook Ads we saw this year, and examines how they could affect your campaigns in 2018.

From new measures intended to combat disinformation (or what Facebook calls “foreign interference”) to redesigned tools for international advertisers, there were plenty of major changes to Facebook Ads this year. If you’re advertising on Facebook, this post is essential reading.

In our final post of 2017’s final best-of round-up, yours truly looks at six ways you can more effectively leverage the power of social media for your nonprofit organization. Complete with plenty of real-world examples of nonprofits that are crushing it on social, this actionable guide will help you attract new followers, engage with your most loyal advocates, and spread the word about the work your nonprofit is doing to make the world a better place.

Dan Shewan

Originally from the U.K., Dan Shewan is a journalist and web content specialist who now lives and writes in New England. Dan’s work has appeared in a wide range of publications in print and online, including The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Pacific Standard magazine, The Independent, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and many other outlets.